Stalled affordable home project resurrected
Work came to an abrupt halt on the village of Ellenville”™s condo project, Ellen Ridge, when the previous developer forfeited to its lender. It languished for two years until picked up by The Ruby Group in Goshen in 2010.
Now that construction”™s resumed, The Ruby Group will complete the final 16 of 80 planned residences, said Pete Berman, president of the company. He is studying his options for how to best complete the project, including a possible mix of sales and rentals.
Berman said he looks forward to successfully completing Ellen Ridge and bringing some peace of mind to residents who have waited for more than 24 months for work to resume.
“The people who live in Ellen Ridge Townhouses have faced uncertainty about their future for a couple of years now and it will be nice to finally wrap things up and give them the beautiful neighborhood and peace of mind they bought into when they came here,” Berman said. “We”™re not just completing an unfinished condo development here; we”™re improving people”™s quality of life. It”™s also an important step forward in Ellenville”™s revitalization effort.”
Reviving the project started with an exhaustive inspection, budgeting and a market review by Berman and his partners. Then negotiations with Walden Federal Savings & Loan to buy the property and arrange the financing needed to resume construction were next. The review was a two-way street, Berman said. “We did our own due diligence on the project and the bank carefully vetted our construction company to ensure we had the know-how, as well as the capital to back us up that it required before agreeing to the transfer.”
“Identifying a buyer who had the skills to reliably complete the project in a timely manner was a key consideration when Walden Federal Savings was seeking someone to complete Ellen Ridge Townhouses,” L. Bruce Lott, the bank”™s chief lending officer, said in a statement. “We want to get this wrapped up quickly, and Pete”™s team had the background and scale needed to do it.”
Berman said the project is much-needed and worthwhile for Ellenville. “We have both a mix of condo owners and renters in the section of the project that was completed,” Berman said. “We”™ve gone into the rentals and completed the work that was left undone. We still have 16 units left to complete, and we expect to either rent them out or sell them at market rate.
“Deals don”™t happen overnight in this financial climate,” said Berman, who expects work on the remaining 16 town homes to be completed by mid-July, if not sooner.
“We worked closely with the bank to make sure it was a viable project, one that we could bring in on or under budget and complete the work. It can be very difficult to pick up where someone left off.
“In this case, many of the people who purchased found themselves with a half-finished project. Other units were rented out, but the work was not completed. They”™ve been very happy that we”™ve come in and purchased Ellen Ridge because they didn”™t know what was going to happen. The construction stopped two years ago and they”™ve been in limbo ever since.”
Units that were left incomplete have been brought up to speed, and Berman and his construction company are working to complete the project.
“Walden Federal Savings & Loan worked closely with us and helped make it happen. There is money available out there for financing, but banks are being careful, and builders are being just as cautious. Nobody wants to experience a loss, not in this market. Fortunately for us, buying the project and completing it has been a win for us, the bank and the homeowners and renters who live here.”